Welcome to Mannheim!

The city of Mannheim is truly international. Not only because of the many international citizens living and working in Mannheim who originate from other (mainly European) countries. But also because the University of Mannheim receives around 600 international exchange students per year from all over the world. As the university is located just a five minute walk from the city centre, national and international students roam the streets during their lunchbreaks and during their leisure time. Hardly a day passes when you don't hear English, Spanish, French or Asian languages at your local bakery, your favourite cafe or bar, the supermarket or in the department stores in the city centre. It is so easy to connect to students from other countries - or your home country! 

You can find a campus map here.

Service for international students

Our international degree-seeking and exchange students mainly receive information from and are supported by two institutions at the University of Mannheim: The Central International Office as well as the Dean’s Office of the School of Business Informatics and Mathematics. While the central International Office mainly handles administrative issues such as admission, visa issues and registration, as well as accommodation and German language courses, the Dean's Office deals with the more academic aspects, especially course offer and course advice. 

You can find your contacts in the Central International Office and more general information for applying and studying on their website.

The UM Short Guides

Before you actually take off for Mannheim, the UM Short Guide for international students will probably be a helpful source of information for you. The Short Guides are published in June for the fall semester and in November for the spring semester. 

International exchange students

Students coming from our partner universities can study at the School in both the fall or spring semester. You cannot apply directly to the university to study here for one or two semesters, but need to apply for an exchange slot at your home university instead. Please contact your International Relations Coordinator for information on application criteria and deadlines.

The Mannheim semester dates are organized according to international standards: 

Fall semester: 1 September - 23 December
Spring semester: 1 February - 30 June

There is a winter break during January and a summer break during July and August.

If you are not coming from a partner university but would like to study in Mannheim for a semester or two, please contact Ms. Katharina Schroeder-Niederhacke at the Dean's Office.

International doctoral candidates

If you are interested in studying at our School as a doctoral student, please contact Ms. Katharina Schroeder-Niederhacke at the Dean's Office. By the time you contact her you should already have an idea which research is done at the School and which department chair(s) you are most interested in. Ideally, you would also have a suggestion for a research proposal. You can find an overview of the School's department chairs here.

International degree-seeking students 

Degree-seeking students in our programme Master of Science in Business Informatics do not need proof of German language skills as the programme can be studied completely in English language. However, they need proof of English language skills.

Degree-seeking students in our programme Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics do need proof of German language skills, as most of the programme is taught in German.

For more information on the application and admission requirements please visit the pages of our central Admissions Office.

Degree-seeking students in our programmes Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Business Mathematics need proof of German language skills, as the programmes are taught mostly in German language.

For information on the degree programmes in Business Mathematics, please contact Ms. Noemi Huber at the Dean's Office:

Ms. Noemi Huber, Ass. jur.
Programme coordinator Business Mathematics
Room B 1.04
Phone: 0049-621-181-2415
Fax: 049-621-181-2423
huber(at)wim.uni-mannheim.de

The UM semester dates start and end earlier than those of other German research universities, as our semesters are organized according to international European standard semester dates.

Please note that there are intensive courses in German language available for international exchange students throughout the months of August (before the start of the fall semester) and the month of January (before the start of the spring semester). These intensive courses are not open to degree-seeking students. Degree-seeking students have free access to language courses during the semester, either German language courses or other langauges such as French, Spanish, Eastern European languages, Chinese, Japanese etc. These language courses are offered by Studium Generale, which is affiliated with the UM.

 Spring semester 2013

Our course offer is published online around end of November (for the following spring semester) and end of May (for the following fall semester) respectively. As most of our courses at the School of Business Informatics and Mathematics are offered in a yearly rhythm, our previous spring semester course list is a good indicator of which courses will likely be offered again during the coming spring. Accordingly, the past fall semester course list gives you an idea of the courses offered during the coming fall. However, some changes do occur.

Please note that exchange students coming to Mannheim need to take the majority of their courses from the School through which they come on exchange (i.e. School of Business Informatics and Mathematics for our incomings). However, you can also take German language courses or two or three courses from other Schools. The Schools identifiy courses that yre suitable for students from other subjects on the so-called "International Cultural Studies" (ICS) list, which is updated at the end of every semester for the next semester and available for download on the websites of the Central International Office. For taking courses at other Schools, some restrictions apply:

Business School:

The Business School at Mannheim is our largest School and receives most incoming exchange students every year. The School is therefore quite restrictive with courses taken by students from other UM Schools. For information on Business classes you can take, please refer to the ‘International Cultural Studies (ICS)’ list on the website of the Central International Office.

School of Law and Economics:

Department of Economics: Master courses are restricted to Master students, Bachelor students have to take Bachelor courses. Core courses (E700 – E703) are not available to Business School students.
Department of Law: Master courses are restricted to Master students, Bachelor students have to take Bachelor courses. If you would like to take a law course, please check with their Erasmus Office whether you are eligible.

School of Social Sciences:

If you are not studying this field as a minor at least, please refer to the ‘International Cultural Studies (ICS)’ list on the website of the Central International Office.

School of Humanities:

If you are not studying this field as a minor at least, please refer to the ‘International Cultural Studies (ICS)’ list on the website of the Central International Office.

All information on accommodation, health insurance, German language courses and much more can be found on the information portal myUniMA. It is administered by the central International Office and you will receive your login and password to access it after your nomination by your home institution. If you have any questions regarding your stay in Mannheim, please check out myUniMA first as it will give you the answers to most of your questions.

The so-called Student Portal is different from MyUniMA. It is used for course descriptions, course and exam registration, for checking your grades and also includes ILIAS, the university’s e-learning platform. You will receive your login and password after your arrival in Mannheim upon your enrolment. For most courses in mannheim you do not need to register. But if you need to register for a class beforehand, it will say so in the Student Portal.